Paul Duval (Earth-616)
; formerly , , , | Relatives = | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = New York City, New York, USA, Formerly imprisoned in the Raft, The Vault, The Big House; Paris, France | Gender = Male | Height = 5'11" | Weight = 175 lbs (normal) | Weight2 = 750 lbs (transformed) | Eyes = Blue | Eyes2 = (normal); White (transformed) | Hair = Brown | Hair2 = (normal); Grey (transformed) | UnusualSkinColour = Grey | UnusualFeatures = While transformed, the Grey Gargoyle's body appears to be composed entirely of stone. | CharRef = | Citizenship = French | MaritalStatus = Single | Occupation = Criminal, sculptor; formerly starship captain, chemist, self-appointed God | Education = PhD in chemistry | Origin = Human chemically-altered | PlaceOfBirth = Fontainebleu, France | Creators = Stan Lee; Jack Kirby | First = Journey into Mystery #107 | Last = | HistoryText = Early Life Dr. Paul Duval, a young chemist working for a pharmaceutical company in Paris, accidentally spilled a potion contaminated by some unknown organic substance on his right hand. To his dismay, his hand began to turn to stone-like material still capable of movement. Accidentally touching his other hand, he found that he could transform his entire body into the stone-like material. He also discovered that any matter he touched also turned to stone. Grey Gargoyle Mercenary by nature, Duval decided to exploit his bizarre power for personal profit and turned to theft, quickly becoming one of France’s most accomplished criminals as the Grey Gargoyle. When he became bored with lack of challenge to his crimes, he decided to travel to America and wrest the secret of immortality from Thor. He was twice bested in combat by him. He was among the many costumed menaces assembled by Doctor Doom to disrupt the wedding of Reed Richards and Susan Storm. He returned to what had proved more successful in the past-- pure mercenary endeavors. His first attempt was to steal a new cobalt-powered weapon from Stark Industries, and he was actually successful after transforming Iron Man’s battle armor to stone. Iron Man returned when the Gargoyle’s power wore off, stopping the villain by destroying the machinery he hoped to abscond with. Later, an attempt to acquire the deadly compound dubbed "Element X" went horribly wrong. He was confronted by Captain America, the Falcon, and Nick Fury, cornered, and accidentally shot into space. The Gargoyle found himself trapped aboard a satellite in Earth’s orbit, where the subversive scientific organization A.I.M. rescued him. On their behalf, he joined their efforts to launch a satellite with heavy weaponry, fighting Captain America and Spider-Man, but was accidentally rocketed into space once more. In deep space, he was retrieved by the Bird of Prey, a pirate starship whose crew members were of various alien races. Ever out for himself, the Grey Gargoyle forced himself into command of the ship. The Bird of Prey encountered the starship Starjammer, used by Thor, Sif, and the Warriors Three in their adventure to the Doomsday Star. The Gargoyle had the heroes captured and conscripted to join the crew for slave labor. The heroes' ally, the Recorder, not only helped his friends escape but started a mutiny among the crew against the Grey Gargoyle. When the rebellion grew out of control, the Grey Gargoyle professed to want to join Thor in order to return to Earth. However, at the height of the battle, the Gargoyle tried to flee and seemed to have died in a violent explosion. In fact, Duval survived by creating a stone-like cocoon around himself. Using the cocoon to travel through space, he managed to return to Earth, where he immediately battled the Avengers. In the process, his cocoon was destroyed, and he was taken into police custody. Spider-Man stopped Grey Gargoyle,Jonas Harrow, and Armond DuBroth breaking out of prison. Grey Gargoyle teamed up with Doctor Octopus to battle Iron Man. Masters of Evil Duval was soon freed by villains of the fourth Masters of Evil organization, whose goal was to destroy the Avengers, but following a defeat at the hands of the Wasp and Black Knight, he was again returned to jail. Paul St. Pierre Having broken out, Duval embarked on a unique plan. He created an artistic persona, Paul St. Pierre, and became a successful and highly sought-after sculptor. In fact, his statues were real people, transformed by his power and sealed with a special polymer compound that would make this change permanent. His plot was uncovered when Tony Stark attended his gallery, and he exposed the Gargoyle. Acts of Vengeance The Grey Gargoyle was broken out of prison again, this time to join several master criminals in a coordinated attack on various heroes and sent to battle the Hulk. At the time, the Hulk possessed a gray alter-ego, and this confused Duval, who had thought that the Hulk had turned to stone but nonetheless kept moving. The Hulk summarily defeated the Gargoyle, breaking his arm, and left. He was then sent to the Vault. Vault Grey Gargoyle was one of the many villains who tried to escape the Vault. Doom's Brigade The Grey Gargoyle continued to be a recurring villain in the lives of many heroes, which included the likes of Captain America and Spider-Man as part of Doctor Doom's "Doom's Brigade," and later fighting She-Hulk. The Thor War Zarrko pulled enemies from out of the Timestream including Gargoyle to fight Thor and Beta Ray Bill. The Grey Gargoyle attacked Beta Ray Bill but Duval was smacked away by his enchanted hammer. Auction The Grey Gargoyle was one of numerous villains invited by the Brass Bishop and the Chess Set to an auction located inside an abandoned airstrip. The Chess Set wanted to auction the bodies of Auric, Silver and a government scientist named Hedison after they obtained a highly potent cocktail of energies after the Sphinx imploded within the Target Technologies. The auction was interrupted by Alpha Flight and Spider Man. Grey Gargoyle was taken down when Heather Hudson absorbed Klaw's emissions into her battlesuit and returned it back to her enemies. The Grey Gargoyle was apprehended and sent back to the Vault. Fantastic Force Code: Blue needed some assistance with the apprehension of the Grey Gargoyle so Duval came into conflict with the Fantastic Force and was apprehended after Psi-Lord used his telekinesis to isolate Duval from potential targets. Code: Blue placed the Grey Gargoyle in special cuffs and took him away. Oscorp Break-in Molten Man came to the law office looking for help regarding break-ins at Osborn Chemicals; Daredevil is reunited with the Black Widow to take on the culprit, Grey Gargoyle. Gideon Trust Later, Duval, somehow recovering from his previous encounter, was contacted by the Gideon Trust, a business executive board interested in using technology developed by the Fantastic Four for their own purposes. They bade the Grey Gargoyle to attack the Thing, in a sort of initiation to their employ. The Gargoyle seemed successful in turning the Thing into non-living stone, but he was defeated by the remaining members of the Fantastic Four. In addition, the Thing was able to break free of the Gargoyle’s power as it kick-started his ability to transform into his human alter-ego and back again at will. Search for Immortality Paul returned to his initial goal of searching for Thor's secret to immortality when the death of a childhood friend affected him significantly. He attacked Thor Girl, Thor’s associate Tarene, and actually managed to defeat her, leaving her for dead and stealing her magical hammer. Proclaiming himself to now be like a god, the Gargoyle was immediately confronted by Desak the God-Slayer who was searching for Thor. Desak defeated the Gargoyle with ease. The Gray Gargoyle was involved in the fight between the Marvel and DC Universe. Big House He was next seen serving time at Pym Experimental Penitentiary Number One alias the Big House, a prison that kept its super-powered inmates miniaturized, and participated in a breakout led by the Mad Thinker only to be thwarted by She-Hulk. He was transferred to the Raft, only to escape during a blackout caused by Electro. He was kept at the Raft for a long time. He later became involved in the mass jail break. Spider-Woman He resurfaced later, attempting a hit on an unidentified movie studio executive, but was beat up by Spider-Woman, and then slammed into a car by Ms. Marvel, but apparently escaped shortly afterwards. Dark Reign Recently, Grey Gargoyle was defeated by Tempest and Wondra from the latest incarnation of the New Warriors, and was subsequently shrunk down to the size of a candy bar using stolen Pym particles and left for the police. He was then taken into custody by the NYPD. He managed to break out shortly afterwards, and attended a meeting hosted by The Hood. After inviting Moonstone to dinner he told her he knew she was the Ms. Marvel for Osborn's team, and the other members were also former criminals. He then went on to rant about how he was not taken seriously when he wasn't offered membership, to this and a number of other teams. He then joined the latest incarnation of the Lethal Legion to get back at Osborn, after they were captured he shared the identities of the Dark Avengers with his lawyer, but it was not the team's real identities. Lethal Legion Grey Gargoyle was recruited in the Grim Reaper's Lethal Legion. They attempted an assault on Norman Osborn during his time as leader of the Initiative, but failed. The team later battled Hawkeye. Attacking Asgard Grey Gargoyle, still on a quest for immortality, attacked Thor and Asgard to learn their secrets. Fear Itself When the Serpent was freed by Skadi, he called seven hammers to Earth. Grey Gargoyle was transformed by one of these hammers, becoming Mokk, Breaker of Faith. In a rampage through Paris, France Mokk was responsible for thousands of deaths. He battled Iron Man, Detroit Steel and Rescue until the Serpent summoned him for the final battle. When the Serpent was killed by Thor, Mokk's hammer was taken from him as well as the hammers of the other Worthy, freeing Gargoyle and the others. He was imprisoned by Tony Stark in a containment unit made for Hulk. The chaos he wrought in Paris was partially restored by Odin, who turned back to normal the "statues" that weren't destroyed. Avengers: Standoff! Grey Gargoyle was later apprehended by S.H.I.E.L.D. and was placed in Pleasant Hill which served as the most unlikeliest of prisons. | Powers = *'Transmutation:' The Grey Gargoyle has the ability to transform any organic or inorganic object into stone by touching it with his right hand. The process is instantaneous and the maximum volume of matter which can be transformed at a single touch is 10 cubic feet but the volume seems to differ the past several years. Their have been instances when the Grey Gargoyle has transformed an object into stone that measures more than 10 cubic feet like trees, yachts and even buildings with a single touch. People and objects turned to stone revert back to their normal state after one hour. Organic victims do not suffer any ill-effects other than disorientation upon returning to normal. However a person is susceptible to severe trauma and even death if their granite-like substance is damaged. If a person in granite form is shattered into pieces and not properly reformed after one hour, then they will revert back to normal form as a bloody mess. The same issue occurs when an arm or leg is broken off in statue form because that person will be missing that limb upon reversion to normal. *'Stone Form:' Duval has to touch himself with his right hand to transform into the Grey Gargoyle. The Grey Gargoyle is endowed with all the physical properties of stone with his sentience and mobility intact. The Grey Gargoyle has superhuman strength and resistance to impact and temperature extremes in stone form. He also retains his normal speed and reflexes in granite form. **'Superhuman Strength:' While in his transformed state, the Grey Gargoyle's strength is increased to superhuman levels. At his peak, he is capable of lifting about 11 tons. **'Bulletproof Durability:' Also while transformed, the Grey Gargoyle's stone body is highly resistant to physical injury with the impact resistance of stone which is around 80,000 lbs per square inch. He can withstand high caliber bullets, falls from great heights, exposure to temperature and pressure extremes, and powerful energy blasts without sustaining injury. | Abilities = Duval is an accomplished chemist, and is fluent in both French and English. | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = Formerly * Hammer of Mokk * Tarene's Hammer | Notes = * Grey Gargoyle appears in the tie-in comic for the PC game The Amazing Spider-Man & Captain America in Dr. Doom's Revenge!. * Pierre Duval was originally the name of the lead character in the Atlas-era fantasy story, "I Know the Gargoyle's Secret". | Trivia = * Without his stone touch Captain America considers him 'little more than another generic powerhouse'. | Links = }} hu:Paul Duval (616) Category:Rock Body Category:Transmutation Category:Object-Based Powers Category:Multilingual Category:Asgardian Magic